cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/5440556

Basically what’s in the meme. I don’t know if this is an appropriate post here, but I don’t have all the specifics.

The gist though is pretty much as described - limit break is its own resource(Like a channel divinity charge) that you can use for Action Surge and then, perhaps, a new ability for each subclass. These charges would refresh on short rest(that’s important) and you could maybe even gain a third ability of your choice at higher levels, and of course you gain more charges as you level.
Champion’s could be called Honour-Bind and act as a sort of pseudo Compelled Duel ability, to force aggro on you(advantage on Opportunity Attacks, Crossbow Expert negated if it isn’t against you, bonus to AC for not having any allies within melee range but having multiple enemies within melee range, etc).
Banneret could get Rallying Cry as this instead of just a pathetic add-on to Second Wind - The user and everyone who hears it gains 5 or so turns of a bunch of Temp HP, immunity to frightened, advantage against poisoned and charmed, some sort of bonus to damage dealt with attacks, and then maybe even instantly stabilizes if they’re on death saves, or even just straight-up gets up at 5 HP.
This is made with the idea of BattleMaster maneuvers being resourceless and available to all martials in mind(hence the title), but if it’s still a subclass it could just outright gain a huge bonus to its maneuvers for a time.
Rune Knight could just slightly buff its third level Giant’s Might ability(The thing that makes you beeg) and have that as its Limit Break.
This was also made with the idea of making Barbarian a fighter subclass in mind, and of course, Barbaric Rage is that subclass limit break.
Maybe even Ranger, and a version of Hunter’s Mark becomes their Limit Break? For instance, you could split into three different versions - Pinpoint, which would give you bonuses to attacks against your mark(which are different, but not necessarily strictly better or worse, depending if they’re melee, ranged, or even with spells), Chase, which would speed you up and make it easier to slow down, grapple, tackle etc your mark(or pick it up or steal it if it’s an object), and Stalk, which…well, lets you hide and stalk your mark, maybe even allowing bonus action dodging. Maybe that’s a bit too many subclasses for one class, though…

This was obviously conceptualized for D&D, though I think it would work in other games like Pathfinder just as well. Any sort of tips for what exactly to do with this?

  • @[email protected]OP
    4•1 year ago

    Also, “martial” in this case specifically refers to Fighters, Barbarians, and Rogues.

    Don’t discount Monks! They’re generally regarded as the worst class in the game, as they’re essentially fighters that deal less damage in exchange for a resource that lets them use cool abilities…for a short time. Yeah, I know they’re technically? magical, but they function and present as a martial class, poorly at that.

    The disparity is choice and impact. Because of their lack of choices, it can seem difficult to have an impact on the game, mechanically. A good DM can make up for this in a variety of ways, but when you’re just looking at the rules or white-rooming a character, the problem does tend to become a bit obvious…if overblown.

    Also don’t discount, being able to play out-of-combat scenarios. Casters get utility like Pass Without Trace, Spider Climb, Prestidigitation, Friends, and then the fact that most of them are charisma-based for some strange reason, which is THE out-of-combat stat. I know my suggestion in particular doesn’t really address that, and is more focused on the more-abilities and/or allowing interesting choices part that you mention after that, but I do absolutely want things like 3.5e’s Moment of Perfect Mind, and whatnot.

    • @tidy_frog
      2•1 year ago

      Don’t discount Monks!

      That’s how bad monks are. I forgot they even existed :D

      But seriously, they’ve been getting some good changes in the UAs, and with WotC being a bit more generous with things like expertise it makes being useful a lot easier when you’ve got a lot of random weird shit you can do, like a monk can.

      Honestly, Monks are so close to being a top tier class. All they really need is for WotC to pull their heads out of their collective asses and make short rests not a fucking tooth-pulling exercise in frustration for your average group.

      If it were me I’d bring back the concept of 10-minute “exploration turns”. You use one exploration turn to do something like pick a lock, break down a door, climb your speed x 5 in relatively safe conditions without a check, attempt to disarm a trap, attempt to climb a slippery or dangerous surface, examine a magic item (arcana check to figure out something basic), make a general knowledge check about a subject (would have to define a distinct difference between using knowledge checks in combat and using them outside of combat), etc…

      …but, most importantly, you would use an exploration turn to try and take a short rest. Take one short rest action and you can spend one hit dice per three levels (rounding up). Take a second in a row and you can spend one hit dice per three levels. Take three of them back-to-back and you can spend another one hit dice per three levels, and any short rest recharges trigger. Your short rest is now done. You can gain the recharge benefit of the third rest action twice per long rest.

      …and while that was going on the rest of the party was able to fuck around and do stuff. Which means the monk who gassed themselves in the last combat can take three rest actions to get back their ki while the rogue searches a room, disarms a trap guarding a hidden chest, and then picks the lock on the chest.